Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 09/01/2009, uploaded on 09/01/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Though bearing the highest opus number of Chopin’s nocturnes, the Nocturne in E minor was actually his earliest foray into the genre. Composed in 1827, before the composer had left his native Poland, it owes much to nocturnes of John Field, yet at the same time does not attempt to disguise Chopin’s developing genius. The simple expression and Classical elegance of the piece only thinly veils the passionate Romanticism that found an unhindered outlet in Chopin’s later pieces.

In keeping with the Fieldian template, the Nocturne in E minor possesses a gentle triplet accompaniment that persists throughout the whole of the piece, entirely regulated to the left hand and established in the very first measures.  Essentially an arpeggio of the tonic chord, an intermediate half step above the dominant occurring on the weak beats of each measure adds a delicate touch of poignancy. The principal melody is sorrowful, falling slowing in the first phrase though the octave from the mediant to rest dolefully on the supertonic. The second statement of the melody becomes more impassioned, leading into a passage that builds in tension through the keys of D minor and B minor. Over a dominant pedal, a feeling of expectation accompanies a melody wavering between E minor and its parallel major. This brief section, and what hope it carries of consolation, is cut short, however, with the return of the opening melody. Embellished with colorful flourishes, the theme’s reprise has a greater intensity than its initial statement. At its conclusion, the major key once again is found, tinged with the tones of the minor, and the nocturne passes away into gentle contemplation.      Joseph DuBose